Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Elizabeth Pena | Charles “Craig” Parkhill, Defense Support to Civil Authorities coordinator for the...... read more read more
ROUND ROCK, Texas - Standing tall with confidence and years of experience as a former Army officer, Charles “Craig” Parkhill knows that preparedness and situational awareness are vital to saving lives when disaster strikes.
As the Defense Support to Civil Authorities coordinator for the Texas National Guard’s Joint Task Force 136 (Maneuver Enhancement Brigade), headquartered in Round Rock, Texas, Parkhill takes pride in his ability to plan ahead and anticipate issues related to incident response. To that end, Parkhill recently fulfilled the requirements to be a Certified Emergency Manager, a distinction considered by many to be the top certification in Emergency Management.
“I had to take a 100-question test that was pretty comprehensive and submit a packet with my own education and achievements to them,” said Parkhill.
The CEM, completed by Parkhill in January 2015, is an advanced certification sponsored by the International Association of Emergency Managers, an organization dedicated to representing those professionals whose goals are saving lives, protecting property, and the environment during emergencies and disasters.
“I now have the backing, saying I am a certified professional emergency manager,” said Parkhill.
Currently, there are only 9,000 certificate holders in the world.
Parkhill is also an instructor for the National Incident Management System, the Incident Command System, and hazardous materials awareness for the Guardsmen and civilians of JTF-136 (MEB).
“IAEM is heavily tied to the NIMS model and the incident command system,” said Parkhill. “About 70% of the written test was over that.”
He also recently coordinated a hazard management operation course for the Minuteman Brigade’s Military Police Battalion, scheduled for September and conducted by the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service. This is just one of the many classes that ensure our responders are prepared in the event of an unexpected incident.
“As a DSCA coordinator, I do all the training scenarios for the JTF, with the exception of the ones that are not handed down by the National Guard Bureau,” said Parkhill. “My job requires me to have an intimate knowledge of emergency management.”
Parkhill’s role as the DSCA coordinator requires many skills. Among those skills is being able to liaise between civilian agencies and the National Guard in the event of activation.
“By having this certificate,” said Parkhill “It adds legitimacy to my abilities to provide that liaison.”
Parkhill began his career with the Texas National Guard in 2008 and has since become an invaluable resource in the effort to save lives and mitigate suffering within the consequence management enterprise. Before that, he served 20 years in the United States Army and retired in 2002 as a major.
“My position here at the JTF has grown,” said Parkhill “When I first started, a lot of people, to include the brigade commander, didn’t know how to use me. Col. Schnell and I have fleshed that responsibility out a lot.”
Col. Lee Schnell served as the brigade commander for JTF-136 (MEB) until June of 2015, and led the unit through its most recent external evaluation in April 2014 to continue supporting the FEMA Region VI Homeland Response Force mission.
The next big milestone for Parkhill is to get certified as a HAZMAT Technician. He plans to attend the Emergency Response Hazardous Materials class this fall at the Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, Ala. This class will give Parkhill a more detailed perspective of how things are handled at the ground level during operations.
“Emergency manager is more command and control involved, not hands-on or boots-on-the-ground level,” said Parkhill. “Having a boots-on-ground perspective and more complete knowledge of the hazardous material technician-level training will equip me to write better scenarios and also allow me to make wiser decisions at the command and staff level.”
The official ceremony for Parkhill’s CEM presentation is scheduled for November 2015 in Las Vegas.
| Date Taken: | 06.30.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 06.30.2015 17:14 |
| Story ID: | 168678 |
| Location: | ROUND ROCK, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 135 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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